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5 Things That Prove This Was the Most 2016 Week Ever

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On March 11, 2016 the asteroid 2016 EF195 passed within satellite distance of Earth. The asteroid was “twice as big as the asteroid” that crashed in Russia in 2013. Having avoided the sweet meteor of death, the United States has had to endure the 2016 election without a celestial savior. A 2016 without SMOD has blown past the absurd. This week was no different. Here are five things that prove this was the most 2016 week ever.

1. Candidate suggests you look at porn.

It is pretty safe to say that this week marked the first time a major party presidential candidate suggested that Americans watch a specific piece of porn, or porn in general for that matter. Donald Trump did not disappoint. Here’s his tweet.

This would be absurd in a normal election year. Alas, in 2016 it is more of the same.

2. A former governor cannot name ONE foreign leader.

I once chided unserious candidate Evan McMullin for saying former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was an unserious candidate. Well, I may need to find a recipe for grilled crow, because Johnson once again proved how unserious he is this week. When asked to name a foreign leader, Johnson went blank. Here, watch:

3. The FBI director said Hillary Clinton wasn’t given special treatment.

With a straight face, and a touch of anger, FBI Director James Comey bristled at suggestions that the special treatment his agency gave to Hillary Clinton was, in fact, special. Politico has the report.

‘You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels,’ Comey declared Wednesday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. ‘We are honest people and … whether or not you agree with the result, this was done the way you want it to be done.’

The normally stoic FBI chief grew emotional and emphatic as he rejected claims from Republican lawmakers that the FBI was essentially in the tank for Clinton when it recommended that neither she nor any of her aides be prosecuted in connection with the presence of classified information on Clinton’s private email server. He acknowledged he has ‘no patience’ for such allegations.

‘I knew there were going to be all kinds of rocks thrown, but this organization and the people who did this are honest, independent people. We do not carry water for one side or the other. That’s hard for people to see because so much of our country, we see things through sides,’ Comey said. ‘We are not on anybody’s side.’

Not quite sure Comey will be able to “weasel” his way out of this one anytime soon.

4. Trump cites internet polls to say he won the debate.

For most of the summer, the daily, almost patented Trump poll tweets all but disappeared. After the debate, Trump tweeted the poll tweet to end all Trump poll tweets. You see, he used the completely unscientific results of internet polling to say he won the debate. It doesn’t matter if it is true, Trump just needs it to be true.

President Ron Paul could not be reached to offer his opinion on internet polling. But the Fox News senior leadership was available, and they told their on-air hosts that online polls “do not meet our editorial standards.”

5. We are about to find out what happens when the last exchange health insurer turns out the lights.

Some of the absurdity of 2016 has real world consequences. Insurers in at least two state marketplaces have decided to leave the Obamacare exchanges. This furthers a trend that began earlier this year. Their main reason for their leaving is that Congress has not appropriated money to pay them for the losses they have endured being in the exchange. Obamacare was designed with a built-in yearly bail out. Not only did Democrats set out to fine you for not buying the insurance industry’s products, they also gave the insurance companies a yearly bailout.

Sensing a problem, the Obama administration is deciding to spend money not appropriated for the payments to pay off these insurers. You may be wondering how that can be, when the Constitution gives Congress, and only Congress, the right to approve spending. The Washington Post explains.

Justice Department officials have privately told several health plans suing over the unpaid money that they are eager to negotiate a broad settlement, which could end up offering payments to about 175 health plans selling coverage on ACA marketplaces, according to insurance executives and lawyers familiar with the talks.

The payments most likely would draw from an obscure Treasury Department fund intended to cover federal legal claims, the executives and lawyers said. This approach would get around a recent congressional ban on the use of Health and Human Services money to pay the insurers.

The start of negotiations came amid an exodus of health plans from the insurance exchanges that are at the heart of the law. More than 10 million Americans have gained coverage through the marketplaces since they opened in 2014.

Those are just five stories that confirm this past week was the most 2016 week ever. Chances are next week will ratchet up the stakes and take the prize.

Despair not, valued reader, for there are at least 80 asteroids within the Moon’s orbit projected to pass Earth between now and the election. Perhaps one of these will be the SMOD you are hoping for. Oh, and Tom Brady is returning to the New England Patriots after tomorrow’s game against the Bills. Perhaps he can save this year yet. (For more from the author of “5 Things That Prove This Was the Most 2016 Week Ever” please click HERE)

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Tea party to defend its small government champions in 2016 Senate races

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Sen. John McCain likely has a bull’s-eye on his back, but tea party groups have signaled that they expect the 2016 Senate races to be a lot more about defending the small government champions the movement helped win in the 2010 wave election than in headhunting ‘establishment’ Republicans.

Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican and the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2008, has already said he expects to face a primary challenge, and tea party groups are talking up apparent early interest in the seat shown by Rep. David Schweikert.

On the other side is Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, who was part of the 2010 tea party wave and who the groups are now rallying around, hoping to head off an establishment-backed challenge.

“If the Republican establishment wants to defeat Sen. Lee in a primary, they have their work cut out for them,” said Ken Cuccinelli, head of the Senate Conservatives Fund. “Not only do voters in Utah value him, there are thousands of freedom-loving Americans across the country who are ready to go to battle for him.”

The tea party ended with little to show for its election battles in 2014. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was unseated in a primary, but senators they targeted managed to survive in Kansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky. But the chief storyline of 2014 was the GOP establishment getting its candidates and those candidates going on to capitalize, winning many of the seats Democrats had to defend.

Read more from this story HERE.

A Third-Party Candidate on the Rise in 2016?

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There are many lessons to be found in studying the American presidential election record.

We’re currently moving through a period of profound frustration with the Republican Party. Many were looking and hoping for a Reagan-esque candidate to arise during the 2012 primary debates. Alas, there wasn’t one anywhere to be found.

Obama and Romney took 98.17% of the popular vote. Obama won by 3.85%, and with only 1.83% of the popular vote going to candidates outside the top two parties, the non-two party vote was effectively irrelevant.

But it hasn’t always been this way, and — if history is any guidance — the tide will turn again, and soon.

The following figures show the percentage of the popular vote outside the top two candidates and the percentage of the popular vote for the third-place candidate since 1824.

Photo Credit: American Thinker

Photo Credit: American Thinker

Read more from this story HERE.

RNC Event Snags 2016 Hopefuls

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Five of the most talked-about potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates will spend the weekend together next month huddling with top Republican donors near Miami.

The RNC has snagged former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to attend their quarterly finance meeting, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.

The Republican VIPs will convene at Coral Gables’ ritzy Biltmore Hotel over the weekend of March 9th-10th for an event that’s a perk for the RNC’s top donors. There’s a reception and dinner Friday, a full slate of events Saturday and a breakfast on Sunday. It’s less of a fundraiser than a chance for big givers to get face time with some of the biggest names in the party. RNC Chair Reince Priebus will also be in attendance and speak about the GOP’s future and will be joined by assorted other Republican members of Congress and officials.

Read more from this story HERE.

Dinesh D’Souza’s Response to AP’s Fact Check on “2016: Obama’s America”

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A few days ago the Associated Press ran a news article by reporter Beth Fouhy charging that my film “2016” contains serious factual errors. Remarkably, for a news article, the reporter didn’t bother to check with me or anyone else at the film. This was my first indication that something was deeply wrong with this article. Let’s look at the specific charges raised in the AP article.

First, it claims that I “never mention the explosion of debt that occurred under Obama’s predecessor, Republican George Bush.” This is simply false. The film quotes former Comptroller David Walker saying that the national debt exploded under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The film shows a clear graphic depicting the actual debt increase under both presidents, so that the viewer can compare them. The simple truth is that Bush’s largest annual deficits were below $500 billion and Obama’s lowest annual deficit was above $1 trillion. So Bush was a big spender and Obama an even bigger spender. This is made crystal-clear in the film.

Second, the AP article quotes me as saying that Obama has “done nothing” to prevent Iran from getting nuclear bombs. This is a deliberate misquotation. Actually in the film I recall a prediction that I made in my book The Roots of Obama’s Rage. The prediction was that Obama “would do nothing significant” to prevent Iran from getting nuclear bombs. By omitting the word “significant,” AP can then claim that Obama has taken some measures, including some modest sanctions, against Iran. But my point is that these measures are so weak that they cannot be expected to–and in fact haven’t–deterred the mullahs in the slightest.

Third, the AP article “refutes” my contention that Obama is weirdly sympathetic to Muslim jihadis fighting against America by pointing out that Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden and has also approved drone strikes against Al Qaeda. My argument was based on the premise that Obama wants to close down Guantanamo and to extend constitutional rights to jihadis captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. I explained Obama’s peculiar position by saying that he views these jihadis as freedom fighters seeking to liberate their countries from American occupation. As Obama has made clear, he views Bin Laden and Al Qaeda quite differently, as international gangsters who go abroad to kill innocent people. So my argument about Obama is quite consistent with his actions against Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.

Fourth, the AP article claims that I misrepresent Obama’s position on the Falkland Islands. Not true. The British position on the Falklands is that the islands belong to the U.K. The Argentine position supports negotiations over the control of the islands. Despite the special relationship between America and Britain, and despite the fact that Republican and Democratic presidents have supported the British position, the Obama administration has switched sides and now supports the Argentine position calling for negotiations. This is reflected in resolutions passed by the Organization of American States and backed by the United States.

Read more from this story HERE.

Dinesh D’Souza’s 2016 Obama Documentary Blows Away Industry Estimates, Grossing Millions

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Dinesh D’Souza felt that President Barack Obama had been telling his story to Americans for years. The conservative author wanted to give them a different version. So he worked on a documentary, “2016: Obama’s America,” that put the president in a more critical light. And apparently, there’s an audience that agrees with D’Souza’s vision.

In its first week in wider distribution, the documentary grossed an estimated $6.2 million, far exceeding industry expectations, according to independent distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures. That was virtually the same amount as the major studio action film “Premium Rush” collected – and “Obama’s America” was playing in roughly 1,100 fewer theaters.

“I realized Obama was telling his own story in his own voice and thought it would be interesting to use his voice in a documentary where it would be indisputable to people that this was Obama’s own narrative,” said D’Souza, who wrote and directed the film with John Sullivan.

The film draws heavily from D’Souza’s own life, as he describes how coming to study in America from his native India helped to shape his political ideology. Throughout the 90-minute film, he often addresses the camera face-forward, pointing out the similarities between his upbringing and Obama’s. Many of the author’s arguments about Obama’s support of anti-colonialism are drawn from D’Souza’s controversial book “The Roots of Obama’s Rage,” and the movie frequently uses dramatic reenactments featuring unknown actors to depict past events.

Heading into the weekend, pre-release audience surveys suggested “Obama’s America” would gross about $4 million – but by midday Friday, ticket sales were so brisk that estimates were lifted to $6 million. The movie debuted seven weeks ago here and had raked in $2.4 million as it expanded from 169 theaters to 1,091 locations this weekend. The film currently is in 12 theaters in the Houston area. In total, the film has sold $9.1 million worth of tickets.

Read more from this story HERE.